The Battle of Manhattan ft Marc La Rue
by dawaterguy
Summary: The events of The Last Olympian through new eyes. Those of Clarisse's younger brother Marc; the only child of Ares to take part in the opening stages of the the battle. (OC)


Authors Note: This is my first fanfic, and many party of it are very closely based on The Last Olympian. Some dialog is identical. Cheers

I was in the first van, Argus, the security chief with hundreds of eyes, was driving. Thank gods I wasn't in one of the other two vans, harpies still creep me out, even after all this time. Percy met us on the sidewalk beside the empire state building. We all piled out of the vans, Pollux, Silena Beauregard, the Stoll brothers, Michael Yew, Jake Mason, Katie Gardner, and Annabeth, along with most of their siblings, around forty of us in all. The only ones missing were the other Ares kids. Damned Clarrise and her temper, she knows damned well that this battle will be important. Percy and Annabeth stopped to talk; those two really need to decide if they're a couple or not.

Once Chiron took his leave, apparently, he still thought the Party Ponies might help us, we followed Percy into the lobby of the empire state building, apparently, we needed to have a chat with Zeus. I'd normally try to avoid the king of the gods, but hey, circumstances demand extraordinary behavior. Once we convinced the security guard to let us past, and to let us skip the metal detector, we took the elevators to Olympus. Let's just say the gods need better elevator music, and it takes a while to go up 600 floors. I had almost forgotten the floating stones that led to the mountain, but unfortunately, they were still there. Not great for a guy who's afraid of heights. Olympus seemed wrong somehow, and it took me a second to realize it was (almost) completely empty. By the time we got to the palace, with a small pause to look at some blue lights in the sky, we had seen all of three other people, and they looked more likely to run from us than to guard the home of the gods.

The throne room was also, predictably, empty. Except for a small bubble of some kind in the far corner… was that a sea-cow? I know about sea horses but cows? Apparently, Percy knew the cow thing, and it was named Bessie. Whatever. A woman's voice said something to Percy, and a small girl appeared next to the hearth fire. Goddess alert. I caught the word "Achilles" in what she said to Percy, that's actually somewhat interesting, wonder what's going on there. Percy looked at the goddess for a second, then collapsed, what the hell? Then Hermes showed up next to the fire goddess, and he was pissed by the look of things. The fire goddess faded away, leaving us alone with the god's messenger. Great. The snakes on his staff were chatty enough, something about rats? Percy sent us all off with the Stolls to "check the defenses" … What a joke - there weren't any, he and Annabeth obviously wanted privacy with Hermes. Better them than me.

Once we had done a useless and disheartening search for anyone who might help defend Olympus, we all kind of spread out. I headed over to one of the viewing areas; I may not like heights, but the view was pretty great. The whole of New York city was spread out in front of me, the wind was in my face too. It reminded me of home, windy and quiet. Wait, New York shouldn't be quiet, should it? I looked down, traffic was stopped everywhere, and the etire city seemed to have stopped moving. Completely. "hey Travis, Connor" I called, "check out the city". Minutes later, once everyone was crowded around the rails using the drachma-operated viewers, and Percy and Annabeth had arrived, someone clued in: Morpheus had given New York a nap. A long, long nap…

When we got down to street level, Argus was waiting. Percy asked him and the harpies to go back to camp and defend it. To be honest, if Kronos killed all of us, I don't think the camp stood much of a chance, but you never know. Before he left, Annabeth took a shield out of one of the vans, great. Then she set it down, and I realized it was basically giving us satellite view of anywhere in New York. Now that is a useful shield. As we scanned for Kronos' army, Connor made some lame joke about robbing a candy place… grow up dude. And then we spotted the army. Oh crap. I should actually say armies., as there were basically three of them. Aka, we were outnumbered. Badly.

Percy is nothing if not ambitious. He decided we were going to hold Manhattan. While outnumbered 10:1. This should be fun. Percy was going to deal with the boats – who knows how but water is his specialty, right. The Apollo cabin was going to take care of the Williamsburg bridge, Demeter the Brooklyn Battery tunnel, Half of Hermes the Manhattan bridge, the other half the Brooklyn Bridge. Aphrodite was going to take care of the Queens-Midtown tunnel… how? Hephaestus kids were going to guard the Holland Tunnel – I didn't envy the anyone attacking there. Percy almost asked for the other Ares kids to take care of the 59th Street Bridge, but then Annabeth spoke up and had the Athena kids cover for them. Percy went over a communication plan – Basically, pinch peoples' cellphones. Single use only, and no keeping them… unfortunately. We were all about to leave, when Jake reminded Percy about the Lincoln Tunnel. Crap. And the Hunters of Artemis showed up. Thalia was in charge of them now apparently, she was rocking the "punk rocker" look as usual, but with just a hint of "princess" now. She'd of course beat up anyone who mentioned it. With the Hunters taking the Lincoln tunnel, we were set to go. Time for war. Goody.

Being the only Ares kid, I basically had a choice of where I'd be fighting. In the end, I went with the Apollo kids. I get along with most of them, and besides, they had a tough fight coming at the Williamsburg bridge, if what we saw on the sat-shield was anything to go by. After Percy's somewhat depressing attempt at a pep-speech (maybe stay away from public speaking dude), we headed across town.

When we got to the bridge, the first order of business was to clear all the mortals out of their cars, we didn't want them to get hurt in the fighting that was coming. By the time we had them all clear, it wsa almost night. As we set up with archers behind cars and a school bus, our very own enemy army showed up and … was that the Minotaur? I though Percy killed him already. The Apollo guys started the party with a few explosive arrows, just to get the monster dust flowing. They ran into trouble though, when a group of armoured Dracaenae started to push forward, shoving cars out of the way. We also had a few spears and arrows start to come back towards us from the enemy archers and spearmen hiding behind the vanguard. I quietly pulled open a car door and sat there, waiting for the enemy advance – I'm not much of a bowman, more of a sword, spear and other close range weapons kind of guy. As I waited, I saw Michael Yew gesture for me to fall back with them. When I shook my head, he gestured with a "for crying out loud" kind of motion, and picked up a cellphone. Probably calling Percy. Good, he can have some fun too.

When the first few of the enemy got close to my car, I hid, waiting. When the time was right, out came the sword for a yelling charge that got the monster dust flowing. This was followed by me getting backed into a corner between two cars, and setting up for a rather long fight. Fighting wasn't really something I thought about, I was in something of a trance like state; slash, block, stab, duck, repeat. I was kind of aware of arrows killing monsters that were about to get around behind me, or get a luck strike in against me, and was instantly grateful to whichever Apollo camper had stayed to help. Suddenly, I was in the clear, the monsters had stopped advancing and instead stoop in a line 20 or so feet down the bridge. I figured now was a good time to retreat back to the Apollo line and made an arrow dodging dash to the Manhattan shore of the bridge.

Once to safety, I looked up and noticed why the monsters had stopped; pegasi in the sky, one of which was black, and had Percy on its back.

After landing, and a quick strategy meeting with Annabeth and Michael, percy and I stepped out from the Apollo cabin barricade, and walked straight towards the enemy. The Minotaur had finally decided to show his ugly face, and he seemed rather pissed to see Percy. I wonder why… A couple of monsters tried to attack us as we walked forward, but they were alone, and we dealt with them pretty easily. As we approached their lines, the Minotaur roared, can a cow roar? Mooed forcefully maybe. Anyway, the enemy line surged forward. Percy got a funny look in his eyes as he looked at the Minotaur, and he muttered something about one on one. I was happy to leave the Minotaur to him, and to keep the rest of the monsters busy to give Percy a chance to deal with bull-boy. It didn't seem to take him very long, I only had to keep the two of them isolated for a minute or so before Percy joined me in against the larger part of the army. We charged.

It was as if we were invincible. Honestly, I don't remember much. All I knew was that I wasn't going to let these monsters through to Manhattan, and Olympus. I sliced through armor like it was made of paper. Snake women exploded. Hellhounds melted to shadow. I slashed and stabbed and whirled, and I might have even laughed once or twice—a crazy laugh that scared me as much as it did my enemies. I was aware of the Apollo campers behind us shooting arrows, disrupting every attempt by the enemy to rally. Finally, the monsters turned and fled, there were only about twenty left alive out of two hundred.

We followed these few enemies to the Brooklyn end of the bridge, and stopped, because the enemy had reinforcements; demigods, on horses. They charged us. A volley of arrows took down a few, and then they were upon us. I tried not to kill the demigods. They were people after all, even if that were supporting Kronos. I'd kill their horses, and the monsters that supported them, then hit them with a shield or pommel to knock them out, or hurt their legs to make them retreat. It seemed to be working, there were two smaller battle. One surrounded me and several Apollo campers, and that was obviously taking up most of my attention, but I was also aware of another battle; Percy and Annabeth, surrounded. We all fought in retreat, helped by the Apollo campers behind us, and by several, possibly suicidal, pegasi making kamikaze runs and kicking our enemies in the heads. I reached the center of the bridge, and managed to disengage from our enemies.

I looked around. One of the Apollo campers who had been behind me was nowhere to be seen. The other, a younger boy named Thomas, was badly hurt. I picked him up and carried him back to the Manhattan shore, and left him with a couple of siblings at a temporary hospital. As Dropped him off, the black Pegasus flew past, extremely low, and dropped a very badly injured Annabeth at the field hospital. If Annabeth was here, that meant Percy was alone. I dashed up the bridge in time to see Percy blow backwards by a wave of energy from Kronos' scythe. When the bridge stopped shaking, I looked up, and watch Percy stab the bridge with his sword. How was that supposed to help? Then a geyser of water shot up. Right. Water powers. The bridge fell apart, leaving a 20 meter gap between us and Kronos. Kronos gave us a fake little salute, and yelled across the gap "until this evening".

As we stood at the ended of a totally broken bridge, Percy's phone rang. That couldn't be good. I turned to walk back towards Manhattan, stopping when I came to a discarded bow in the middle of the street, arrow still on the string. "Michael?" I called. There was no response, only a gasp from behind me, and Percy sprinting past … What was wrong now?

There was no sign of Michael Yew on the bridge. Eventually, we stopped looking and started to head back into Manhattan, leaving one Apollo camper as a lookout at the bridge. We headed for the Plaza Hotel, where a temporary headquarters had been set up. When I got there, I grabbed a PB&J, and wen to crash on a couch that look suspiciously like it had been chewed on.

Will Solace shook me awake – apparently we had a titan asking for a truce. I went outside and followed Percy, Grover and Thalia. We could see the white flag from half a mile away. It was as big as a soccer field, carried by a thirty-foot tall giant with bright blue skin and icy gray hair. "A Hyperborean," Thalia said. "The giants of the North. It's a bad sign that they sided with Kronos. They're usually peaceful."

"You've met them?" Percy asked.

"Mmm. There's a big colony in Alberta. You do not want to get into a snowball fight with those guys."

As the giant got closer, we could see three human-size envoys with him: a half-blood in armor, an Empousa demon with a black dress and flaming hair, and a tall man in a tuxedo. The empousa held the tux dude's arm, so they looked like a couple on their way to a Broadway show or something— except for her flaming hair and fangs.

The group of them waited for us at a playground. I was trying to figure out who the guy in armor was. He looked familiar for some reason. Grover was being annoying, as usual and going on about being afraid of rabbits – dude, now is not the time.

The tuxedo guy stepped forward, I was guessing he was the titan. He looked normal enough, except that old guy should not try to pull off a pony tail, and his face looked like someone attacked it with a cheese grater. Also, who wears sunglasses at this time of day? It was almost nightfall. "Percy Jackson," he said in a weird voice. "It's a great honor." The demon hissed – someone needs diplomacy lessons. "My dear," Tux Dude said to her. "Why don't you make yourself comfortable over there?" She headed over to the park bench across the playground. I recognized the demigod now. Ethan Nakamura. One of Kronos' converted nutsoes. Percy decided to taunt him a bit.

"Hey, Ethan," he said. "You're looking good." Ethan just glared.

"To business." Tux Dude extended his hand. "I am Prometheus."

"The fire-stealer guy? The chained-to-the-rock-with-the-vultures guy?" Percy asked. Maybe not a good idea Percy? That might be a sore subject…

"Please, don't mention the vultures. But yes, I stole fire from the gods and gave it to your ancestors. In return, the ever merciful Zeus had me chained to a rock and tortured for all eternity."

"But—"

"How did I get free? Hercules did that, eons ago. So you see, I have a soft spot for heroes. Some of you can be quite civilized."

"Unlike the company you keep,"

"Oh, demons aren't so bad," he said. "You just have to keep them well fed. Now, Percy Jackson, let us parley."

He waved us toward a picnic table and Percy sat down. Thalia and Grover and I stood behind him. The blue giant propped his white flag against a tree and to play on the playground. He stepped on the monkey bars and crushed them, but he didn't seem angry. He just frowned and said, "Uhoh." Then he stepped in the fountain and broke the concrete bowl in half. "Uh-oh." The water froze where his foot touched it. A bunch of stuffed animals hung from his belt—the huge kind you get for grand prizes at an arcade.

"Percy, your position is weak. You know you can't stop another assault." Said Tux Dude.

"We'll see." Prometheus looked pained, like he really cared what happened to us demigods.

"Percy, I'm the Titan of forethought. I know what's going to happen."

"Also the Titan of crafty counsel," Grover put in. "Emphasis on crafty." Prometheus shrugged.

"True enough, satyr. But I supported the gods in the last war. I told Kronos: 'You don't have the strength. You'll lose.' And I was right. So you see, I know how to pick the winning side. This time, I'm backing Kronos."

"Because Zeus chained you to a rock," Percy guessed.

"Partly, yes. I won't deny I want revenge. But that's not the only reason I'm supporting Kronos. It's the wisest choice. I'm here because I thought you might listen to reason." He drew a map on the table with his finger. Wherever he touched, golden lines appeared, glowing on the concrete. "This is Manhattan. We have armies here, here, here, and here. We know your numbers. We outnumber you twenty to one."

"Your spy has been keeping you posted." Prometheus smiled. Creepy.

"At any rate, our forces are growing daily. Tonight, Kronos will attack. You will be overwhelmed. You've fought bravely, but there's just no way you can hold all of Manhattan. You'll be forced to retreat to the Empire State Building. There you'll be destroyed. I have seen this. It will happen." I thought about the picture Rachel had drawn in my dreams—an army at the base of the Empire State Building. I remembered the words of the young girl Oracle in my dream: I foresee the future. I cannot change it. Prometheus spoke with such certainty it was hard not to believe him.

"I won't let it happen," Percy said. I'm not sure it's up to you Percy…

"Understand, Percy. You are refighting the Trojan War here. Patterns repeat themselves in history. They reappear just as monsters do. A great siege. Two armies. The only difference is, this time you are defending. You are Troy. And you know what happened to the Trojans, don't you?"

"So you're going to cram a wooden horse into the elevator at the Empire State Building?" Percy asked. "Good luck." Prometheus smiled. Percy can be sassy too apparently.

"Troy was completely destroyed, Percy. You don't want that to happen here. Stand down, and New York will be spared. Your forces will be granted amnesty. I will personally assure your safety. Let Kronos take Olympus. Who cares? Typhon will destroy the gods .my way."

"Right. As if Kronos would spare the city."

"All he wants is Olympus," Prometheus promised. "The might of the gods is tied to their seats of power. You saw what happened to Poseidon once his undersea palace was attacked."No, no I hadn't, but from Percy's face I figured it wasn't good. "Yes," Prometheus said sadly. "I know that was hard for you. When Kronos destroys Olympus, the gods will fade. They will become so weak they will be easily defeated. Kronos would rather do this while Typhon has the Olympians distracted in the west. Much easier. Fewer lives lost. But make no mistake, the best you can do is slow us down. The day after tomorrow, Typhon arrives in New York, and you will have no chance at all. The gods and Mount Olympus will still be destroyed, but it will be much messier. Much, much worse for you and your city. Either way, the Titans will rule."

Thalia pounded her fist on the table. "I serve Artemis. The Hunters will fight to our last breath. Percy, you're not seriously going to listen to this slimeball, are you?" I figured Prometheus was going to blast her, but he just smiled.

"Your courage does you credit, Thalia Grace." Thalia stiffened.

"That's my mother's surname. I don't use it." She responded.

"As you wish," Prometheus said casually. I'd never even heard Thalia's last name before. Somehow it made her seem almost normal. Less mysterious and powerful.

"At any rate," the Titan said, "you need not be my enemy. I have always been a helper of mankind."

"That's a load of Minotaur dung," Thalia said. "When mankind first sacrificed to the gods, you tricked them into giving you the best portion. You gave us fire to annoy the gods, not because you cared about us." Prometheus shook his head.

"You don't understand. I helped shape your nature." A wiggling lump of clay appeared in his hands. He fashioned it into a little doll with legs and arms. The lump man didn't have any eyes, but it groped around the table, stumbling over Prometheus's fingers. "I have been whispering in man's ear since the beginning of your existence. I represent your curiosity, your sense of exploration, your inventiveness. Help me save you, Percy. Do this, and I will give mankind a new gift—a new revelation that will move you as far forward as fire did. You can't make that kind of advance under the gods. They would never allow it. But this could be a new golden age for you. Or . . ." He made a fist and smashed the clay man into a pancake. The blue giant rumbled, "Uh-oh." Over at the park bench, the empousa bared her fangs in a smile. "Percy, you know the Titans and their offspring are not all bad," Prometheus said. "You've met Calypso." He has? News to me.

"That's different."

"How? Much like me, she did nothing wrong, and yet she was exiled forever simply because she was Atlas's daughter. We are not your enemies. Don't let the worst happen," he pleaded. "We offer you peace." Percy turned to Ethan.

"You must hate this."

"I don't know what you mean."

"If we took this deal, you wouldn't get revenge. You wouldn't get to kill us all. Isn't that what you want?" His good eye flared.

"All I want is respect, Jackson. The gods never gave me that. You wanted me to go to your stupid camp, spend my time crammed into the Hermes cabin because I'm not important? Not even recognized?"

"Your mom's the goddess of revenge," Percy told Ethan. "But Nemesis also stands for balance! When people have too much good luck, she tears them down. Which is why she took your eye?"

"It was payment," he growled. "In exchange, she swore to me that one day I would tip the balance of power. I would bring the minor gods respect. An eye was a small price to pay."

"Great mom."

"At least she keeps her word, unlike the Olympians. She always pays her debts—good or evil."

"Yeah. So, I saved your life, and you repaid me by raising Kronos. That's fair." Ethan grabbed the hilt of his sword, but Prometheus stopped him. When and why did Percy save a good for nothing brat like Ethan?

"Now, now," the Titan said. "We're on a diplomatic mission." Prometheus studied me as if trying to understand my anger. Then he nodded like he'd just picked a thought from my brain. "It bothers you what happened to Luke," he decided. "Hestia didn't show you the full story. Perhaps if you understood . . ." The Titan reached out. Thalia cried a warning, but before Percy could react, Prometheus's index finger touched his forehead.

Prometheus pulled his hand away from Percy's forehead. "Percy?" Thalia asked. "What . . . what was that?"

"Appalling, isn't it? The gods know what is to come, and yet they do nothing, even for their children. How long did it take for them to tell you your prophecy, Percy Jackson? Don't you think your father knows what will happen to you?" I was one seriously confused guy. What had Percy seen?

"Perrrcy," Grover warned, "he's playing with your mind. Trying to make you angry." Grover could read emotions, so he would probably be the best one to trust on this one.

"Do you really blame your friend Luke?" the Titan asked Percy. "And what about you, Percy? Will you be controlled by your fate? Kronos offers you a much better deal

"I'll give you a deal. Tell Kronos to call off his attack, leave Luke Castellan's body, and return to the pits of Tartarus. Then maybe I won't have to destroy him," That's the spirit Percy!

"If you change your mind," he said, "I have a gift for you." A Greek vase appeared on the table. It was about three feet high and a foot wide, glazed with blackand-white geometric designs. The ceramic lid was fastened with a leather harness. Grover whimpered when he saw it. Thalia gasped.

"That's not—" "Yes," Prometheus said.

"You recognize it." Looking at the jar, I felt a strange sense of fear, but I had no idea why.

"This belonged to my sister-in-law," Prometheus explained. "Pandora." A lump formed in my throat.

"As in Pandora's box?" Prometheus shook his head.

"I don't know how this box business got started. It was never a box. It was a pithos, a storage jar. I suppose Pandora's pithos doesn't have the same ring to it, but never mind that. Yes, she did open this jar, which contained most of the demons that now haunt mankind—fear, death, hunger, sickness."

"Don't forget me," the empousa purred. "Indeed," Prometheus conceded. "The first empousa was also trapped in this jar, released by Pandora. But what I find curious about the story—Pandora always gets the blame. She is punished for being curious. The gods would have you believe that this is the lesson: mankind should not explore. They should not ask questions. They should do what they are told. In truth, Percy, this jar was a trap designed by Zeus and the other gods. It was revenge on me and my entire family—my poor simple brother Epimetheus and his wife Pandora. The gods knew she would open the jar. They were willing to punish the entire race of humanity along with us." "Only one spirit remained inside when Pandora opened it."

"Hope," said Percy. Prometheus looked pleased.

"Very good, Percy. Elpis, the Spirit of Hope, would not abandon humanity. Hope does not leave without being given permission. She can only be released by a child of man." The Titan slid the jar across the table. "I give you this as a reminder of what the gods are like," he said. "Keep Elpis, if you wish. But if you decide that you have seen enough destruction, enough futile suffering, then open the jar. Let Elpis go. Give up Hope, and I will know that you are surrendering. I promise Kronos will be lenient. He will spare the survivors."

"I don't want the thing," Percy growled.

"Too late," Prometheus said. "The gift is given. It cannot be taken back." Hadn't the guy ever heard of re-gifting? He stood. The empousa came forward and slipped her arm through his. "Morrain!" Prometheus called to the blue giant. "We are leaving. Get your flag." "Uh-oh," the giant said. "We will see you soon, Percy Jackson," Prometheus promised. "One way or another." Ethan Nakamura gave me one last hateful look. Then the truce party turned and strolled up the lane through Central Park.

Come night, some old, fat satyr had arrived. He seemed to think that he was someone important, and in charge of the nymphs and sprits and satyrs that were fighting with us. I'd trust Grover to do a better job leading the nature spirits, and I barely know Grover. Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, the Athena cabin, the Hunters of Artemis and I were going to try to hold the main part of Kronos' army, which was advancing through Central Park. The rest of the cabins would hold an entrance to the Manhattan island to make sure we weren't attacked form any other directions. We waited for the enemy at the reservoir.

When the army finally showed up, they were led by a guy in glowing armour, and a whole bunch of giants. They split around the reservoir. Except the dude in gold. He just walked straight across the water. Show off. Then Percy did the same trick to meet him. Another show off. Then, Athena cabin and I attacked. We stated with a rain of arrows and Greek fire. Bye bye giants. Next up; dracaenae. More arrows. And I dropped out of a tree into the middle of them. Bye bye dracaenae. Once we lost the element of surprise, the fighting got harder. I was joined on the ground by some of the Athena kids, and we stood together to block the wave of monsters from advancing. In the middle of the lake, Percy was a hurricane. Literally. The titan that he was fighting didn't seem to be able to do anything against him. Good.

The entire battlefield paused to watch as Percy forced the titan to the edge of the lake. As soon as his feet touched the shoreline, satyrs began to play a weird, sad-sounding song on the pipes they all carried. Slowly, but surely, wood and bark grew over the titan, until his last cries stopped and in his place stood a massive tree. Remind me never to piss Grover off.

We relaxed for a second. Bad plan. "REEEEET". A flying pig? What the hell…

And of course the enemy army attacked again. Percy, in all his wisdom, lassoed the pig, and took off for a ride. Leaving us, one rather large army to deal with. There was no way we would have been able to hold them at the reservoir, and there was no point, not anymore. Not without Percy's water powers. We fought a slow retreat, back into Manhattan, slowly, surely, getting closer to the Empire State Building. We were holding them at 33rd Street. Barely. Then Percy showed up. "Flying pig?" I asked.

"Bacon," Percy responded. That was good to hear. Then we attacked the Hyperborean that had broken through our line.

Together, we killed another frost giant, then separated to better defend the city. The next hour was a blur. I fought like I'd never fought before; attacking legions of dracaenae, taking out dozens of telkhines, destroying empousai and knocking out enemy demigods. No matter how many we defeated, more took their place. We slowly backed our way to the steps of the empire state building. Too many demigods lay in the street, injured, or simply not moving. At one point Grover was next to me, bonking snake women over the head with his cudgel. Then he disappeared in the crowd, and it was Thalia at my side, driving the monsters back with the power of her magic shield. Annabeth used her invisibility cap to sneak behind the enemy lines. Whenever a monster disintegrated for no apparent reason with a surprised look on his face, I knew Annabeth had been there. When there was only a small ring of exhausted friendly fighters guarding the doors, Kronos decided to make an appearance. Perfect timing. As usual. He'd also brought a bunch more giants. Great. I prepared myself to continue this fight, from the doorway if I had to, when a hunting horn sounded. Then another.

On our left, a hundred monsters cried out at once. Kronos's entire northern flank surged forward. I thought we were screwed, but they didn't attack. They ran straight past us and crashed into the southern half of their army. A new blast of horns shattered the night. The air shimmered. In a blur, an entire cavalry appeared as if dropping out of light speed. "Yeah, baby!" a voice wailed. "PARTY!" A shower of arrows arced over our heads and slammed into the enemy, vaporizing hundreds of demons. But these weren't regular arrows. They made whizzy sounds as they flew, like WHEEEEEE! Some had pinwheels attached to them. Others had boxing gloves rather than points.

"Centaurs!" Annabeth yelled. The Party Pony army exploded onto the battlefield in a riot of colors: tie-dyed shirts, rainbow Afro wigs, oversize sunglasses, and war-painted faces. Chiron had come through, and at exact moment we need him most. Some had slogans scrawled across their flanks like HORSEZ PWN or KRONOS SUX. Hundreds of them filled the entire block. My brain couldn't process everything I saw, but I knew if I were the enemy, I'd be scared witless.

There were centaurs with bows, swords, baseball bats and even one with a double-barrel paintball gun, he blasted an enemy hellhound bright pink - paint must've been mixed with Celestial bronze dust or something, because as soon as it splattered the hellhound, the monster yelped and dissolved into a pink-and-black puddle. "PARTY PONIES.'" a centaur yelled. "SOUTH FLORIDA!" Somewhere across the battlefield, a twangy voice yelled back,

"HEART OF TEXAS CHAPTER!"

"HAWAII OWNS YOUR FACES!" a third one shouted. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. The entire Titan army turned and fled, pushed back by a flood of paintballs, arrows, swords, and NERF baseball bats. The centaurs trampled everything in their path. "Stop running, you fools!" Kronos yelled. "Stand and ACKK!" That last part was because a panicked Hyperborean giant stumbled backward and sat on top of him. The lord of time disappeared under a giant blue butt. It was amazing. We pushed them for several blocks until Chiron yelled, "HOLD! On your promise, HOLD!" It wasn't easy, but eventually the order got relayed up and down the ranks of centaurs, and they started to pull back, letting the enemy flee.

"Chiron's smart," Annabeth said, wiping the sweat off her face. "If we pursue, we'll get too spread out. We need to regroup."

"But the enemy—"

"They're not defeated," she agreed. "But the dawn is coming. At least we've bought some time." I didn't like pulling back, but I knew she was right. I watched as the last of the telkhines scuttled toward the East River. Then reluctantly I turned and headed back toward the Empire State Building.

We got a 2 square block perimeter set up. Even with a couple hundred party ponines helpin out, that's all we could hold. Did I mention how badly we were outnumbered before?

"Dude," said a centaur named Larry. His T-shirt identified him as BIG CHIEF UBER GUY, NEW MEXICO CHAPTER. "That was more fun than our last convention in Vegas!"

"Yeah," said Owen from South Dakota. He wore a black leather jacket and an old WWII army helmet. "We totally wasted them!" Chiron patted Owen on the back. "You did well, my friends, but don't get careless. Kronos should never be underestimated. Now why don't you visit the diner on West 33rd and get some breakfast? I hear the Delaware chapter found a stash of root beer."

"Root beer!" They almost trampled each other as they galloped off. Chiron smiled. If those ponies were only drinking root beer, I'll eat my shield. They're called Party Ponies after all. Annabeth gave Chiron a big hug, and Percy's friendly hellhound licked his face.

"Ack," he grumbled. "Enough of that, dog. Yes, I'm glad to see you too."

"Chiron, thanks," Percy said. Talk about saving the day." Chiron shrugged.

"I'm sorry it took so long. Centaurs travel fast, as you know. We can bend distance as we ride. Even so, getting all the centaurs together was no easy task. The Party Ponies are not exactly organized." That right there; understatement of the year

"How'd you get through the magic defenses around the city?" Annabeth asked. "They slowed us down a bit," Chiron admitted, "but I think they're intended mostly to keep mortals out. Kronos doesn't want puny humans getting in the way of his great victory."

"So maybe other reinforcements can get through," Percy said hopefully. Chiron stroked his beard. "Perhaps, though time is short. As soon as Kronos regroups, he will attack again. Without the element of surprise on our side . . ." I understood what he meant. Kronos wasn't beaten. Not by a long shot. I half hoped Kronos had been squashed under that Hyperborean giant's butt, but I knew better. That would only have made him angry. And a bit chilly. He'd be back, tonight at the latest.

"And Typhon?" Percy asked. Chiron's face darkened. This wasn't going to be good news. Crap.

"The gods are tiring. Dionysus was incapacitated yesterday. Typhon smashed his chariot, and the wine god went down somewhere m the Appalachians. No one has seen him since. Hephaestus is out of action as well. He was thrown from the battle so hard he created a new lake in West Virginia. He will heal, but not soon enough to help. The others still fight. They've managed to slow Typhon's approach. But the monster cannot be stopped. He will arrive in New York by this time tomorrow. Once he and Kronos combine forces—"

"Then what chance do we have?" I said. "We can't hold out another day."

"We'll have to," Thalia said. "I'll see about setting some new traps around the perimeter." She looked exhausted. Her jacket was smeared in grime and monster dust, but she managed to get to her feet and stagger off.

"I will help her," Chiron decided. "I should make sure my brethren don't go too overboard with the root beer." I thought "too overboard" pretty much summed up the Party Ponies, but Chiron cantered off. I wished Percy and Annabeth goodnight, and went to find a bed or couch to crash on.

I found a chair in the lobby of the empire state building that looked like a good place to nap, but then saw a very, very strange sight through the front windows; a helicopter, with Annabeth behind the controls, descending slowly to the street. Beside her, another girl, this one a red-head. At point I was too tired to care very much, and figured that I'd learn what was going on in a few hours, when I woke up. The last thing I saw before going to bed was the red-head talking to Percy, with Annabeth storming past me, looking really, really pissed, muttering something about Rachel.

A roar woke me. A roar that I could tell was far away, yet still loud enough to be heard. I looked around. We had twenty or so people left in fighting shape, and the party ponies all seemed drunk. Told you I wasn't just root beer. I walked up to the group taking strategy in time to hear; "A drakon," Chiron said.

"A Lydian drakon, to be exact. The oldest and most dangerous kind." The red-head added. This must be Rachel.

"How did you know that?" Percy asked.

"I'm not sure," Rachel admitted. "But this drakon has a particular fate. It will be killed by a child of Ares." Annabeth crossed her arms.

"How can you possibly know that?"

"I just saw it. I can't explain."

"Well, let's hope you're wrong," Percy said. "Because we're a little short on children of Ares; there's only Marc."

"Well let's hope I'm up to the challenge then." Percy turned around in surprise, I guess he hadn't noticed me standing behind him. A roar shook the ground. It sounded very close.

"Rachel," Percy said, "get inside the building."

"I want to stay." A shadow blotted out the sun. Across the street, the drakon slithered down the side of a skyscraper. It roared, and a thousand windows shattered. "On second thought," Rachel said in a small voice, "I'll be inside."

* * * A quick explanation: there are dragons, and then there are drakons. Drakons are several millennia older than dragons, and much larger. They look like giant serpents. Most don't have wings. Most don't breathe fire (though some do). All are poisonous. All are immensely strong, with scales harder than titanium. Their eyes can paralyze you; not the turn-you~to-stone Medusatype paralysis, but the oh~my~gods-that~big~snake~is~going~to~eat~me type of paralysis, which is just as bad. We have drakon-fighting classes at camp, but there is no way to prepare yourself for a two-hundred- foot-long serpent as thick as a school bus slithering down the side of a building, its yellow eyes like searchlights and its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth big enough to chew elephants.

The drakon made me wish it was just another giant, or even another flying pig that we had to fight. Anything would be better than this. Since I had to be the one to kill it, I told the others, "I'll take the drakon."

"Not alone you won't," Percy told me. "Everyone else, stop that army!" "Annabeth, go invisible, look for weak links in its armor while I keep it busy. Just be careful." Then Percy whistled, "Mrs. O'Leary, heel!"

"ROOOF!" The hellhound leaped over a line of centaurs and gave Percy a big, sloppy kiss.

I drew my sword and together, we charged the monster. The drakon was three stories above us, slithering sideways along the building as it sized up our forces. Wherever it looked, centaurs froze in fear. From the north, the enemy army crashed into the Party Ponies, and our lines broke. The drakon lashed out, swallowing three Californian centaurs in one gulp before I could even get close. Mrs. O'Leary launched herself through the air—a deadly black shadow with teeth and claws. Normally, a pouncing hellhound is a terrifying sight, but next to the drakon, Mrs. O'Leary looked like a child's night-night doll. Her claws raked harmlessly off the drakon's scales. She bit the monster's throat but couldn't make a dent. Her weight, however, was enough to knock the drakon off the side of the building. It flailed awkwardly and crashed to the sidewalk, hellhound and serpent twisting and thrashing. The drakon tried to bite Mrs. O'Leary, but she was too close to the serpent's mouth. Poison spewed everywhere, melting centaurs into dust along with quite a few monsters, but Mrs. O'Leary weaved around the serpent's head, scratching and biting.

Taking advantage of the monster's confusion, I dove forward, and managed to stab the left eye with my sword. The eye, which had been a spotlight before, went dark. The draken recoiled and sprayed poison. It turned toward me with its good eye, and I focused on its teeth so I wouldn't get paralyzed. Mrs. O'Leary did her best to cause a distraction. She leaped onto the serpent's head and scratched and growled like a really angry black wig. I dodged backwards, looking desperately for a replacement weapon. The rest of the battle wasn't going well. The centaurs had panicked under the onslaught of giants and demons. An occasional orange camp T-shirt appeared in the sea of fighting, but quickly disappeared. Arrows screamed. Fire exploded in waves across both armies, but the action was moving across the street to the entrance of the Empire State Building. We were losing ground.

Suddenly Annabeth materialized on the drakon's back. Her invisibility cap rolled off her head as she drove her bronze knife between a chink in the serpent's scales. The drakon roared. It coiled around, knocking Annabeth off its back. Percy reached her just as she hit the ground, and dragged her out of the way as the serpent rolled, crushing a lamppost right where she'd been. "Thanks," she said.

"I told you to be careful!" Percy scolded her.

"Yeah, well, DUCK!" She tackled him as the monster's teeth snapped above Percy's head. Mrs. O'Leary body-slammed the drakon's face to get its attention, and they rolled out of the way.

I came across a wounded hunter limping towards the empire state building, and she threw me her silver sword. Not quite the same as mine, but it'd do.

Meanwhile our allies had retreated to the doors of the Empire State Building. The entire enemy army was surrounding them. We were out of options. No more help was coming. Annabeth, Percy and I would have to retreat before we were cut off from Mount Olympus. Then I heard a rumbling in the south. It wasn't a sound you hear much in New York, but I recognized it after a moment: chariot wheels. A girl's voice yelled, "ARES!" And a dozen war chariots charged into battle. Each flew a red banner with the symbol of the wild boar's head. Each was pulled by a team of skeletal horses with manes of fire. A total of thirty fresh warriors, armor gleaming and eyes full of hate, lowered their lances as one—making a bristling wall of death. "The children of Ares!" Annabeth said in amazement. "How did Rachel know?" I didn't have an answer. But leading the charge was a girl in familiar red armor, her face covered by a boar's-head helm. She held aloft a spear that crackled with electricity. My older sister, Clarisse, had come to the rescue. While half her chariots charged the monster army, Clarisse led the other six straight for the drakon. The serpent reared back and managed to throw off Mrs. O'Leary. My poor pet hit the side of the building with a yelp. I ran to help her, but the serpent had already zeroed in on the new threat. Even with only one eye, its glare was enough to paralyze two chariot drivers. They veered into a line of cars. The other four chariots kept charging. The monster bared its fangs to strike and got a mouthful of Celestial bronze javelins. "EEESSSSS!" it screamed, which is probably drakon for OWWWW! "Ares, to me!" Clarisse screamed. Her voice sounded shriller than usual, but maybe that wasn't surprising given what she was fighting.

Across the street, the arrival of six chariots gave the Party Ponies new hope. They rallied at the doors of the Empire State Building, and the enemy army was momentarily thrown into confusion. Meanwhile, Clarisse's chariots circled the drakon. Lances broke against the monster's skin. Skeletal horses breathed fire and whinnied. Two more chariots overturned, but the warriors simply leaped to their feet, drew their swords, and went to work. They hacked at chinks in the creature's scales. They dodged poison spray like they'd been training for this all their lives, which of course they had. No one could say the Ares campers weren't brave. Clarisse was right there in front, stabbing her spear at the drakon's face, trying to put out its other eye. But as I watched, things started to go wrong. The drakon snapped up one Ares camper in a gulp. It knocked aside another and sprayed poison on a third, who retreated in a panic, his armor melting. "We have to help," Annabeth said. She was right. I'd just been standing there frozen in amazement. I charged to help my cabin mates, as they worked to kill this monster.

I stood next to Clarisse, he with that electric spear of hers me with a borrowed sword. We fight well together, probably because she started training me when I was six. All I saw for several minutes was flashes of teeth and scales, with momentary flashes of poison flying past. One of us would get the draken's attention, then dodge the attack, then the other would attack. As well as we were doing however, it was hurting the draken, only making us, especially me, more tired. I came up with a desperate plan in an instant. I hacked at the drakon's face to get its attention, the dodged towards the building. As the monster snapped at me, it hit its own face on the side of the building, momentarily stunning itself. I jumped up onto the beast's back, clawing my way up using the building, then dove forwards, putting my new sword into its other eye. For a moment, everything seemed to stop, I lay across the top of the drake, horribly exposed, with a slight hand hold on the sword buried in its eye. Then time un-froze, and the draken thrashed wildly underneath me. I was thrown, violently against the building and then I was falling, towards the still convulsing monster. I hit the ground and once again, for a moment, all was still. Then the burning started. I'd landed directly beside the dying monster's mouth, and its poison was still deadly.

Everything was fuzzy. I was pulled backwards, my armour pulled off me and there were faces hovering above me. I saw Percy and Annabeth, as well as Clarrise and a few other campers crowded around. Then Chiron pushed through, and I think I saw him shake his head. It was kind of hard to tell whgat was going on, as my vision was fading to black, becoming first grey, then darkening more. The last things I remember was My older sister's tear streaked face, and her voice asking, "why Marc, why?" then moments later, a sudden outburst; "YOU WANT DEATH, COME ON," and a slight red glow flashing across my near-pitch-black vision.


End file.
